Rudiments of Magical Realism in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The

Abstract

This paper attempts to examine the components of magical realism in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Mistress of Spices (1997). The work is a fusion of magical realism and old Indian legend, evocative of Latin and South American greats. She creates a link between the purely practical and the magical worlds. The realistic section of her story captures the ambiance of current metropolitan American life, providing a glimpse into the multicultural world of immigrants who suffer and struggle in the diasporic society. The ancient myths are transformed and reframed in the new culture, but the host society's current myths are both seductive and troublesome. Divakaruni succeeds in delivering a powerful feminist message owing to her novel's approach of magical realism, which appears to be her novel's defining trait, challenging conventional conceptions of reality.